Recursion
by Nikholas F. Toledo Zu
Summary: [Switch] What happens when you don't decide in time?


Washu sat in the relative (quiet, comfort) recesses of her laboratory   
pocket dimension, on a throw pillow which you wouldn't be able to throw   
if you didn't hold it properly (otherwise, it'd just float around).  
  
Instead of being busy at work, punching in commands, protocol and data to   
her shadow laptop, she was reclining. In fact, she was actually perusing   
one of the most famous works of one of her old students. Two of them.   
Erg, it's so hard to keep track of changes for twenty-thousand years.   
Especially if you're old enough to be two people, literally. Her only   
irk was that, in reverence to her, they had actually named the book after   
her. With one of their less flattering names for her, nonetheless.  
  
What surprised her was that, after all these millennia, they'd still be   
here. The last communiqué they had had said that he... err, they... had   
come to Earth, a backwater, Jurai-colonized world for research studies,   
because they wanted to analyze some of the weird temporal phenomena which   
surrounded the area. Despite one of their colleagues saying that it was   
"mostly harmless", they (he, at the time) decided that it was a reverse   
ripple effect. Probably it hadn't come to the point of nexus, even now.   
Maybe she should call them and ask. She checked her telephone book (an   
unnecessary motion) under N, and tried to figure out the international   
code for Australia.  
  
--- Recursion  
--- a Tenchi Muyo! (OAV series) story in three chapters  
--- by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo  
  
--- The Tenchi Muyo! OAVs were done by those guys at Pioneer  
--- Grant Naylor is Tom Grant and Doug Naylor, we suppose  
--- This story might be done by Scriviner, so I'm heading him off.  
  
"You don't say? Sometime about now? Thanks, Grant... oh, yeah, Doug.   
The upload just came in."  
  
Washu was fully alert now. According to twenty-thousand years of   
research, the temporal anomaly was going to manifest in Japan in the next   
six hours. The "cone" of effect was keeping her from detecting it; she   
was still somewhere inside it.  
  
Then again, there was her connection to the Earth satellite net, as well   
as an ear into Galaxy Police broadcast systems. She grinned evilly, and   
started live-feed.  
  
--- Chapter 1 ---  
  
Tenchi whistled an awkward tune.  
  
Sometimes, he'd wish that his house hadn't moved right next to his   
grandfather's shrine. It sure gave him hell walking to and from school.   
He was only too glad that it was already Saturday evening.  
  
The problem with going home, however, was all the aggravation that   
greeted him. His temper had going from deep and still to shallow and   
erratic in only months. Much as he would want to avoid thinking so, most   
of it was his fault. It did start with him going against his   
grandfather's strident wishes. It hadn't been much his fault afterward,   
and he had tried to make up for it.  
  
That wasn't too good, either. He almost got killed once already.  
  
Now, a prince of Jurai, and the object of affection of a demon and most-  
wanted criminal, his half-grandaunt (or is it half-grandaunts?), a   
nervous (bumbling?) Galaxy Police officer, and a mad scientist. Not only   
that, most of them were leagues older than he was.  
  
But that wasn't his problem, really. So he promised not to interfere.   
That, it was currently proving itself, difficult, if not impossible.  
  
Would it be so hard if he didn't really want to even think about it?   
Would it be so hard if he didn't want to decide?  
  
So far, the only problem was that Ryoko and Ayeka constantly and   
violently bumped heads (and furniture, and foliage, and architecture...)   
over it.  
  
It got his goat the most. How could they, who worked best together when   
they chose to, be so at odds with each other?  
  
He really didn't want to decide. He stopped whistling.  
  
He continued to walk, trying to clear his mind of images of that time at   
the pool...  
  
He almost bumped into the cloaked figure in the center of his path.  
  
The figure turned, and grabbed him by the shoulders. Before he could   
shout a "What the- ?", he felt the breath rush out of him as he hit a   
tree. The moonlight illuminated the face of his captor.  
  
He drew a breath, then spat a belated "what the- ?"  
  
A mustached Tenchi slapped him to coherence. "Stop gaping and listen up.   
Because if you don't, sometime in the next six hours, your Ryoko, my   
wife, is going to be murdered."  
  
--- Chapter 1 ---  
  
Tenchi whistled an awkward tune.  
  
Sasami told him, just before he left, "take care." He hadn't been able   
to see her that often, and at such an importunate moment. He kissed her   
on the forehead, covering both circles of red, and then he fled.  
  
It had been a while since he last whistled the tune he was whistling,   
right in this forest. He sped through the branches, taking due note that   
they were aiding him, propelling him to his goal.  
  
At the edge of a clearing, he caught himself. From two stories up, he   
saw himself treading evenly towards the lakeside house he called home.  
Slowly, so that he would not be noticed, he floated to the ground.  
  
Before the student came into the path down into the valley of the lake of   
Funaho, the newcomer tapped him on the shoulder. The student shuddered   
at the touch, and stopped.  
  
"Excuse me," Tenchi said.  
  
"Excuse me," Tenchi said.  
  
The student Tenchi turned, and felt his jaw go numb.  
  
Tenchi, in flowing Juraian royal garb, stopped the billowing wind effects   
and concentrated on his younger self. "A moment of your time, please."  
  
---  
  
"Not good," Washu muttered. A head peeked into the room.  
  
"Washu!" Sasami called. "It's time for dinner!"  
  
"Coming," the redhead said. She limboed her laptop, and hoped that her   
estimate had been only too correct, and that she would find the nexus   
before it could come to pass. She ambled to the door, running a hand   
unconsciously through the young princess's hair.  
  
---  
  
This is not my day, Tenchi thought, as he felt sanity starting to take   
leave.  
  
The elder Tenchi felt his younger self start to faint, and grabbed both   
his shoulders to bring him up. "Grab a hold of yourself, man."  
  
"This is not happening," Tenchi murmured, already lost.  
  
"No," the elder Tenchi said, letting the younger slide down onto the base   
of a nearby tree, "but it's going to."  
  
--- Chapter 2 ---  
  
"Great! What's for dinner?" Ryoko phased into her usual place in the   
dinner arrangement.  
  
"Is that all you ever think of, Ryoko? What comes into your mouth?"   
Ayeka took hers, thus properly forming the initial battle scenario. "You   
never do take time to consider what comes OUT of it."  
  
"Stop it, the both of you! Not in front of Sasami's delicious dinner!"   
Mihoshi was oblivious to everything (least of all, her dinnermates'   
increasing agitation) except the food laid out. She sat on the side   
furthest from the big-screen TV. "Let's eat! I'm starving!" The   
descent of her chopsticks upon the unsuspecting vegetables was stopped by   
the cover of the rice cooker.  
  
"Mihoshi!" Sasami's annoyed look froze the (older?) girl. "We can't   
start eating until Tenchi arrives."  
  
Washu sat down on the unoccupied side and berated the policewoman. "And   
we all know how much Ryoko eats... it'll be a miracle if Tenchi gets any!"  
  
Ryoko took the hit. "Hey!"  
  
Ayeka, as usual, was there for the salt. She made a discreet little   
laugh, then added, "I always knew that Ryoko was such a pig!"  
  
Ryoko would have backed down now, if Tenchi was around, just to ply for   
sympathy. No such luck. Turning to her tormentor, she grated, "what did   
you say?"  
  
"I believe I called you a pig," Ayeka primly said.  
  
"Oh, yeah?"  
  
The sparks set off by their perennial combatants singed Mihoshi, who   
tried to "Um... excuse me?" and lean in close to the path of most resistance.   
Tenchi's father came down the stairs in the meantime.  
  
"Oh, Tenchi's still not back?" Nobuyuki scratched his receding hairline.   
"Where could he be? He's usually back by now."  
  
This drove Ryoko's sensors to half-full-sensitivity. This drove Ayeka's   
sensors to half-full-paranoia. The latter gave a gasp. "Could there be   
something wrong with Lord Tenchi?"  
  
The outside door slid open.  
  
Tenchi stumbled in, gasping, amidst gasps of several "Tenchi!"s and a   
"Lord Tenchi!"  
  
The latter one was the one that had caught Tenchi's attention. A look of   
gratitude passed his features. He stood, dusting himself off and,   
ignoring the others, took Ayeka's hand. "Lady Ayeka..."  
  
This drew a low growl from Ryoko, which was similarly ignored.  
  
"What happened, Tenchi?" Sasami sidled close to the youngish man, noticing   
the absence of his school bag. As she did, though, she wrinkled   
her nose. "Are you wearing perfume?"  
  
He was about to explain when the comment derailed his train of thought.   
Ayeka went to Tenchi's other side and sniffed. A familiar scent, but...   
what? A woman? "Is that... a woman's perfume?"  
  
Tenchi started to sweat, and Ryoko started to step towards him. Tenchi   
gave her an assessing glance... and quickly went ashen. "Ryoko..." he   
murmured weakly in recognition.  
  
"Is something wrong, Tenchi?" Sasami noticed the loss of color in his   
face, as well.  
  
Washu was able to get a first whiff of Tenchi's alleged perfume, and   
thought she knew what it was. It would require an analysis, and probably   
having to pull Tenchi into the lab for some... ahem... samples. She   
smiled slightly in anticipation.  
  
"Hiya, Tenchi! Can we all sit down so that we can eat, PLEASE?" Mihoshi   
was close to tears, and had nibble marks on the wide ends of her chopsticks.  
  
Ryo-oh-ki, who had been ignored on the whole by everyone except Sasami,   
who gave her the carrot she had just finished nibbling on, noticed Tenchi   
and started screeching and hissing.  
  
Washu shook to attention, asking, "what is it, Ryo-oh-ki?" just as Ryoko   
started putting two and two together. She rushed Tenchi, hoping to push   
him away from both Ayeka and Sasami, shouting "WHO ARE YOU?!" She got as   
far as about six inches from him and "WHO A-" when something happened to   
her hand... glowing... and breaking off into little pieces... and it   
wasn't painful, just kind of a breeze picking up pieces of her... she   
screamed, because it only made sense: "-AAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Ryoko fell back   
on the ground.  
  
"RYOKO!" The skylight shattered, spraying Nobuyuki, who stood transfixed   
during all this and had to avoid the hail of slivers, and the newcomer   
fell, rolling into a ball.  
  
Mihoshi, whose Galaxy Police honed reflexes, put a hand to her holster...   
and realized that she had left it in the bath. As recourse, she took   
several trays and hid in the kitchen.  
  
Ayeka pulled herself and Sasami from the Tenchi in school clothes,   
recoiling from this stranger before them. "What have you done to Lord   
Tenchi? Tell me!"  
  
Tenchi, for all the chaos blew hell around him, seemed to envelop himself   
with a cloak of calm. "Lady Ayeka..." His eyes pleaded understanding.  
  
"TELL ME!" Her eyes were mad with panic.  
  
Whatever answer he might have had was cut short by a guttural scream, a   
rush and a tackle, which brought the newcomer to the alleged Tenchi and   
took them clean through the front door.  
  
Washu stood there, barely noticing the shouts from Sasami and Ayeka, who   
followed the scuffle, or from Mihoshi and Ryoko, over the latter's near-  
loss, and finally answered her own question:  
  
The "perfume" was the ceremonial scents of the baths of the Emperor of   
Jurai.  
  
---  
  
A cold breeze blew. Tenchi sneezed himself awake.  
  
"Wh-what the- ?!"  
  
Despite being uncomfortable in his boxers, Tenchi had enough presence of   
mind to keep track of what was important. "The sword...!"  
  
Luckily, he had kept it in his school bag. Luckily, his school bag,   
unlike his school clothes, was just lying a few feet away. He didn't   
have time to consider his good fortune, as he saw the front door blow   
outward. Grabbing the hilt of the Master Key, he ran as soon as he heard   
the screams.  
  
---  
  
Emperor Tenchi of the Juraian Empire fell into an unceremonious lump at   
the bottom of the porch. He spat out half a mouthful of dirt as his   
aggressor ended a roll in a crouch ten feet away. "The gall! The   
unmitigated GALL!" He coughed.  
  
The mustached Tenchi whipped his unruly mane of hair behind him and fixed   
his counterpart with a feral growl and a bloodshot gaze. Every word he   
spoke was punctuated with a dagger-sharp edge.  
  
"Don't."  
  
---  
  
With a flick of a ring, the school uniform disrupted as the robes   
of the battlesuit came into being on him. The wind formed a pillar   
around him.  
  
---  
  
Beads of free-floating energy glowed bright green as second Tenchi   
extended his hands, focussing on the Earth spirits around him.  
  
"Touch."  
  
---  
  
Ayeka rushed through the door, only to stop on the porch, making   
sure that Sasami did not leave the house. Noticing the other Tenchi, who   
looked nothing like the Tenchi he knew. The imposter, however...  
  
"... robes... of the Emperor..."  
  
The transfigured Tenchi turned to fix her with a beatific glance.  
  
"Lady... Ayeka..."  
  
---  
  
A ball of green started to grow in both of Tenchi's fists.  
  
"MY..."  
  
---  
  
It was his look.  
  
It held a world of pain, of longing. Compassion, and will.  
  
Everything that was Tenchi shone with the light of Jurai, in him.  
  
He called to her.  
  
"Lord... Tenchi..." She held a hand to him.  
  
---  
  
Ryoko struggled through the haze in her brain.  
  
Mihoshi was crying torrentially, and Ryoko sat to a kneeling position.   
"Damn!" She rushed to the door.  
  
---  
  
Putting his fists one atop the other, Tenchi-2 screamed "WIFE!" as a   
curved sword flashed to life in his hands, complementing the hellish glow   
in his eyes. Putting his left foot forward and leaning in with his right   
shoulder, he rushed in to swipe at his alter-ego.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi reached out to Ayeka...  
  
---  
  
Tenchi rushed down the side of the valley. He wasn't going to reach: he   
was too late, too late...  
  
---  
  
Ayeka found herself flying.  
  
Ryoko had managed to snag her before the Tenchi-impostor was able to   
touch her. She sighed in relief.  
  
Ayeka beat against Ryoko's back. "What are you doing? Put me back down   
this instant, I demand you!"  
  
---  
  
Tenchi turned, just in time to see Tenchi almost ram into him.  
  
Ryoko's husband had turned his head, looking at the receding forms of his   
wife and Ayeka, and so did not swing.  
  
Emperor Tenchi formed a gust of wind, blowing directly into his   
counterpart's line of motion, catching the latter off-guard, and sending   
him back to a ten-foot distance.  
  
While the mustached Tenchi regained his stance, the Juraian Emperor built   
a barrier-net around himself.  
  
---  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
Ayeka almost came up with a similarly sharp exclamation when she noticed   
Ryoko's hand, or what was left of it. Ryoko reformed it, but the pain   
was obvious on her face.  
  
The pirate took the princess's silence for understanding. "At least he   
didn't take the one with the jewel." She spied a figure near the plain   
of the valley. "Tenchi!" She leveled to swoop.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi noticed a swooping demoness, and felt his throat constrict. "Lady   
Ayeka!" Raising an arm to a point in Ryoko's trajectory, a spiral of air   
in his palm started to gain size.  
  
With a surge of feline-powered rage, Ryo-oh-ki swooped over the edge of   
the wooden barrier around the robed Tenchi.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi held the jade-blaze sword straight in front of him with both   
hands. In a glance and breath, he noted that the Emperor refocused his   
whirlwind attack, he was aiming for Ryoko, and that Ryo-oh-ki was coming   
into the line of fire. "NO!"  
  
---  
  
Ryo-oh-ki took the brunt of the attack. For a fleeting moment, it seemed   
that the force of the blast would expend itself into breaking the   
cabbit's spine. Instead, it wavered slightly, then lifted the pet in its   
deflected path, which went on, nearly unabated.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi noticed a swooping demoness, the princess in her care and the cone   
of air with the cabbit. "NO!"  
  
---  
  
Ryoko turned back too late. Her "sister" slammed right into her face.   
"Ryo-!" She almost flailed.  
  
Ayeka, however, took the air-blast in the chest. She flew limply from   
Ryoko's blind grasp as she hovered over the lake.  
  
---  
  
Sasami couldn't bear it. "SISTER!" She rushed out.  
  
---  
  
"LADY AYEKA!"  
  
Both Tenchis watched the rapidly descending female dip closer and closer   
to center of the lake. It was the older one, though, that was able to   
literally walk on water for her safety. The younger Tenchi stood agape   
as the Emperor made fabulous headway without breaking the water's   
surface.  
  
---  
  
Ryoko grabbed the unconscious cabbit/dehydrated-spaceship by the scruff   
of the neck. It'd probably take minutes to revive her. She hoped there   
wouldn't be a big space battle, or else she'd have to take her chances   
with Mihoshi. She noticed him only when he was right behind her. She   
moved to whirl, anticipating his attack, but she was too late.  
  
He kissed the base of her neck, tickling her with the unruly hairs of his   
mustache. The shock traveled in figures-eight along her nervous system,   
taking particular note of some vital organs and erogenous zones.  
  
"Tenchi," she moaned involuntarily.  
  
"Hit the right spots?" Tenchi took Ryo-oh-ki from Ryoko's softening   
grip, keeping his voice to a tingly whisper in her right ear.  
  
"Mm-hmm" was all she said as she melted in Tenchi's arms. He drifted   
them closer to ground level.  
  
---  
  
Princess Ayeka was caught on an air cushion several feet above the lake.   
Tenchi gingerly took her in his arms, and made his way back to the pier.  
  
---  
  
As soon as he touched earth, he settled Ryoko and Ryo-oh-ki comfortably   
on the ground. Facing the lake, he drew out the sword and waited.  
  
---  
  
Sasami would have jumped off the porch if the hand didn't hold her fast   
on the shoulder.  
  
"This is it," Washu whispered.  
  
Sasami still looked worried as she wondered, "what is it, Washu?"  
  
"The nexus," she replied, without elaboration. She stood there, stern   
yet helpless, a fidgeting observer.  
  
---  
  
Placing Ayeka safely on the planks, Emperor Tenchi stepped forward, a   
safe distance from his opponent.  
  
"You!" he bellowed. "What do you say we square off, one on one? Far   
from," he stopped, giving Ayeka, then Ryoko, Ryo-oh-ki and the house  
significant glances, "bystanders."  
  
"Bastard," Tenchi spat. "You'll probably have someone take her away   
while we're pussyfooting somewhere else! No game!" His eyes flashed   
deep red.  
  
"Nonsense," the royal shrugged off. "If I had planned that all along,   
would I have come here? I, too, have my stakes in this." With that, a   
gust of wind brought him twenty feet higher. "Let us take it where   
nothing can impede us!" His ascent continued after.  
  
Tenchi took a last look at Ryoko, then zoomed upward after his foe.  
  
---  
  
"Tenchi!" Sasami ran to the (nearly naked) Tenchi, and Washu didn't stop   
her. They met at the clump of the sister demons.  
  
Tenchi figured that the ragged-looking man (he now refused to believe   
that he was his future incarnation, judging from his demeanor and actions)   
had done something to cause Ryoko a paralysis of some sort, and was in   
deeper trouble than Ayeka was. He tried to look for a pulse, and felt a   
heat from Ryoko's neck. She came to soon enough.  
  
"What happened, Ryoko? You were out for a few moments."  
  
Ryoko touched the spot where the other Tenchi kissed her, and gave the   
ghost of a smile. "One of these days," she mumbled, "I've got to ask   
Washu about that."  
  
Ayeka hobbled to them at that point, and gave an audible "hmph!" "How   
about that, Ryoko? You have an 'off' switch." By the way she was   
breathing, it was obvious that the hit to her chest would take time to   
recover from. She leaned on her sister, who was instantly beside her.  
  
"More like an 'on' switch, really." Ryoko was in battle mode; she didn't   
have time for shouting matches. Turning to Tenchi, she spoke, "we've got   
to stop them."  
  
"Who are they?" Sasami asked.  
  
Ayeka looked disbelieving as she said, "they appear to be future   
incarnations of you, Lord Tenchi."  
  
Ryoko remarked, "no kidding." But she didn't buy it. "But what were   
they doing? Better yet, why are they here?"  
  
Tenchi shrugged. "The one with long hair said that you were going to be   
murdered tonight, Ryoko. I guess he thinks the other... me... did it."  
  
"This is nuts." Ryoko donned her red and black combat ensemble.   
"Someone's got to stop them."  
  
Tenchi stopped her with a hand. He, too, was in battle gear. "No,   
Ryoko. I've got to go and talk to sense into my selves."  
  
---  
  
At two hundred feet, the future Emperor of the Juraian Empire stopped.   
The energy expended to keep his altitude prevented him from employing a   
full barrier, but he knew that relying completely on passive defense was   
not a good strategy in any case. His opponent seemed ruthless, and   
trapped in a corner: a wounded predator.  
  
From within the folds of his robes, he pulled out a weathered and beaten   
bokken. In fact, it was the same one that he had had in the days when   
his grandfather, the noble warrior Yosho, had trained him in the ways of   
sword-fighting. In the hands of a true Juraian warrior, it is the most   
powerful weapon. He closed his eyes; the length of the dark wood glowed   
with an aura of power of its own.  
  
"Fancy blade," his opponent snidely said, his own sword at ready. The   
blade was tilted forward, insolently opening the fight.  
  
Emperor Tenchi closed his eyes again. A smile cracked his features.  
  
---  
  
"Ready?" Azaka signaled.  
  
"Ready," Kamidake intoned.  
  
"Let's go," Tenchi said. On top of the two guardians, he stood, holding   
the Master Key in his right hand. They tilted forward slightly, then   
took the path to the match that was about to start.  
  
---  
  
Ayeka was now also in combat non-uniform. The dark "war paint" on her   
face blended well with her darkening mood. "When do we follow, Ryoko?   
Lord Tenchi is taking a big risk, you know."  
  
"When he can't shout at us to go back," Ryoko retorted, as she waited.  
  
---  
  
Washu sat on the roof, paying attention to the readings that were showing   
up on her display. She gazed heavenward.  
  
---  
  
The robed Tenchi touched the tip of the emerald blade with his own brown-  
tinged stick, causing sparks to fly. Before his opponent could react, he   
rushed forward to the left of the other Tenchi with the bokken pointing   
inward, but with the right hand to the side, with the intention to block   
his foe. As he came to the rear, Emperor Tenchi turned in a half-moon,   
bringing his blade to waist in a large and deadly arc, directed to the   
midsection.  
  
At least, that was the intention. He heard a chuckling above him. "This   
is rich. And I thought you could think in three dimensions." He opened   
his left palm and shot out small green packets of violence.  
  
Emperor Tenchi barely had time to react; bringing up the bokken with   
both hands, he caught the blasts. Smoke broke out from the clashing   
energies, but left them both unscathed. "And you easily underestimate   
me." Pushing himself obliquely towards Tenchi-2, he started a slash from   
his back.  
  
With an effort, the bokken extended itself into a quarterstaff. Not   
anticipating the change of size, Ryoko's Tenchi took the hit on his left   
shoulder.  
  
Tenchi-2 grimaced, and he started to bleed: a red vapor began to   
effervesce from the deep wound. "That's it!" Disintegrating the sword,   
the energy shot out in a hailstorm against the Emperor. Tenchi-2 watched   
as each of the packets of ki found wood. The robed one gave him a   
disingenuous smile. "Lost focus?"  
  
His answer was a near-hit from a reformed energy blade.  
  
---  
  
"Can't we go any faster?"  
  
"We cannot go any faster, Tenchi."  
  
He waited and hoped that he wasn't too late.  
  
---  
  
About fifty feet trailing, Ryoko and Ayeka wisely kept quiet.  
  
---  
  
With one eye, Washu followed the match as best she could. With the   
other, though, she kept an eye on the dynamics of the quickly shrinking   
temporal anomaly.  
  
What caught her eye was that the anomaly was changing shape. Whereas the   
shape had been spherical, three pips, evenly spaced in a circle, had   
appeared, and were growing as the nexus shrank.  
  
What didn't catch her eye, though, was the fact that Tenchi was rapidly   
approaching the point of nexus.  
  
---  
  
The mustached Tenchi followed up quickly, with a barrage of ki-pellets.   
The robed Tenchi barely managed to deflect them, and was only able to   
make out his opponent's descending silhouette in the cloud that formed.   
He countered with a two-handed staff block.  
  
However, the longhaired Tenchi made sure to hit the exact point which he   
had hit earlier. The staff broke into two uneven pieces. Tenchi-2   
continued on, and burst through the billowing robes.  
  
The robes stained red. Emperor Tenchi staggered to a knee, but stood on   
the other leg.  
  
"Not... bad..." He limped to an arnis stance, both halves perpendicular   
to him, one to his left and back, the other to his front right. "Ready   
for round 2?"  
  
Tenchi-2 nodded imperceptibly, then ascended again.  
  
---  
  
"Dammit!"  
  
Tenchi was barely able to avoid the strays from the last barrage. From   
his vantagepoint, the stained robes were not obvious.  
  
---  
  
"T minus sixty," Washu counted down. The pips were now oddly stubby   
fingers on a shrinking hand.  
  
---  
  
With the both of them on their guards, it was that much harder to get in   
any good hits, what with three dimensions to maneuver in.  
  
While the robed Tenchi was not using projectile attacks, he had found a   
way to ricochet the mustached Tenchi's pellets. The fight, though, was   
almost even, as their injuries were beginning to take their toll as they   
focused on hand-to-hand.  
  
Tenchi-2 deflected a downward-diagonal slash with his sword, but had to   
deflect a midsection sweep with his left forearm. The contact made his   
skin boil, but he would not scream. He pushed out of melee range.  
  
Tenchi had finally gotten within range. He motioned for Azaka and   
Kamidake to slow down. That was when the overcoated Tenchi fell on him.  
  
"Damn!" Ryoko pushed herself when she saw the tumble that came out of   
the last push-off. Ayeka merely nodded grimly, and formed a barrier   
around the two of them.  
  
Emperor Tenchi saw the opportunity present itself.  
  
---  
  
"T minus forty." The nexus graphic started to look like a propeller.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi-2 ended up on top of the sprawled Tenchi. After a bit of a   
struggle, he felt something hard on his throat.  
  
The robed Tenchi held the longer piece of his staff in a clearly imposing   
manner. "Surrender."  
  
Tenchi crawled from under the longhaired Tenchi, who had suddenly stopped   
squirming. Standing, he said, "don't do it."  
  
With quicksilver speed, the prostrate Tenchi brought his sword to parry   
the half-quarterstaff, strong enough to make Emperor Tenchi lose his grip   
on it. Only leaning forward slightly, he replaced the sword on the   
latter's neck.  
  
"No quarter."  
  
He drew back to slice when another blade met his.  
  
---  
  
"T minus twenty." Washu noted that the sphere had shrunken, but the   
three extensions had remained. The figure now looked to be a flower with   
three petals...  
  
"Oh, no."  
  
---  
  
"Don't do it." Tenchi did not want to back down, but he did not want to   
draw blood on this one.  
  
Emperor Tenchi closed his eyes. The billowing was worsening, but the air   
started to blow inwards. Around him, the Wings of the Light Hawk were   
coalescing into being.  
  
"NO!" Tenchi-2 threw Tenchi back with his good arm, and stood. He   
closed his eyes, and started to form the Wings around him as well.  
  
Tenchi started to back away when the Master Key started to glow in his   
grip. The power surged within him, building itself up. Around him,   
three more Wings started to form.  
  
Both future Tenchis were now glowing, but the Light Hawk Wings were not   
retracting. Tenchi sensed, rather than saw, the Master Key glow with the   
same light.  
  
---  
  
Ryoko and Ayeka watched with terror as the nine Wings of the Light Hawk   
started sucking them in. They fell unconscious before they had the   
chance to pull away.  
  
---  
  
"T minus ten."  
  
---  
  
All nine Wings started glowing. The luminosity was nearly blinding, but   
Tenchi kept his eyes open.  
  
The Master Key shook violently in Tenchi's hands as he fought to control   
the Wings he had summoned. He let go of it, and concentrated on   
retracting the Wings.  
  
The Key did not fall, however. Neither did it stop shaking.  
  
Both alternate Tenchis were beginning to discorporate: they were   
starting to become light, then started to dissociate into little packets.  
  
Ryoko and Ayeka suddenly came to center and started to gravitate to   
separate sides.  
  
---  
  
"T minus three."  
  
---  
  
The Power Gems dislodged from the Master Key, both flying into different   
sides and different Wings.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi shouted.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi shouted.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi shouted.  
  
---  
  
"Zero."  
  
---  
  
A flash of light engulfed the night sky.  
  
--- Chapter 3  
  
"Lord Tenchi?"  
  
Tenchi woke up groggily.  
  
Sasami quickly came up to his futon and hugged him. She buried her face   
in his chest and cried. He patted her softly.  
  
He closed his eyes, as they still carried flash blindness. "What  
happened?"  
  
When he blinked, Washu came into view. "They disappeared."  
  
"Who did?"  
  
"Your two future incarnations. After the Light Hawk Wings disappeared,   
they did, too."  
  
He looked around, and the grim faces confirmed his fears. "Where's   
Ryoko?"  
  
Ayeka was the one to speak. "She... she disappeared as well."  
  
He turned to Washu, but she cut him off. "We couldn't find a trace of   
her. Even if she was anywhere within the galaxy..." She shook her head,   
then bowed it, ashamed of her own uselessness. "She's gone. Without   
even a trace."  
  
---  
  
Tenchi, Emperor of Jurai, bowed his head as he relived the most dreadful   
day of his life. He pulled away and contacted Washu.  
  
"Is she safe now, Washu? Has the danger passed?"  
  
Washu confirmed it. "Yes, Tenchi. The temporal anomaly has passed. The   
Lady Ayeka will exist when you return to present time."  
  
Tenchi nodded, but still looked morose. "Why?" He felt repressed rage   
wash over him. "Why couldn't I have saved her, too?"  
  
The greater loss was Washu's, though. "I don't know. I'll never know."  
  
--- Chapter 3  
  
"Tenchi?"  
  
Tenchi woke up groggily.  
  
Sasami quickly came up to his futon and hugged him. She buried her face   
in his chest and cried. He patted her softly.  
  
He closed his eyes, as they still carried flash blindness. "What   
happened?"  
  
When he blinked, Washu came into view. "They disappeared."  
  
"Who did?"  
  
"Your two future incarnations. After the Light Hawk Wings disappeared,   
they did, too."  
  
He looked around, and the grim faces confirmed his fears. "Where's   
Ayeka?"  
  
Ryoko seemed all the more morose. "She... she's gone, too."  
  
He turned to Washu, but she cut him off. "We couldn't find a trace of   
her. Even if she was anywhere within the galaxy..." She shook her head,   
then bowed it, ashamed of her own uselessness. "She's gone. Without   
even a trace."  
  
Tenchi hugged Sasami a little more tight. "Don't... don't cry, Sasami.   
We'll find her. We'll..."  
  
But he didn't believe it himself.  
  
---  
  
Tenchi, most wanted criminal (wanted for the murder of Princess Ayeka of   
the Planet Jurai), husband and partner of Ryoko, flew from the window   
where he was floating near. He didn't want to remember. He contacted   
Washu.  
  
"Good news, Tenchi!" she said brightly. "Ryoko's not disappearing! I   
guess you did it."  
  
"Yeah," he replied flatly. A pause. "I couldn't save her, Washu. I was   
more powerful than I ever was, and I still couldn't save her."  
  
Washu's cheery disposition dampened. "The Universe," she confirmed, "is   
a dark and cold place, Tenchi. Some more than others."  
  
--- Chapter 3  
  
"Tenchi?"  
  
Tenchi woke up groggily.  
  
Sasami quickly came up to his futon and hugged him. She buried her face   
in his chest and cried. He patted her softly.  
  
He closed his eyes, as they still carried flash blindness. "What   
happened?"  
  
When he blinked, Washu came into view. "They disappeared."  
  
"Who did?"  
  
"Your two future incarnations. After the Light Hawk Wings disappeared,   
they did, too."  
  
He looked around, and the grim faces confirmed his fears. "Where's   
Ryoko? And Ayeka?"  
  
Washu paused before speaking. "They... they disappeared with the other   
two. And so is the Master Key."  
  
She chose her next words carefully. "The Wings... produced two new   
timelines... and two new Tenchis."  
  
Tenchi patted Sasami softly, listened to Washu's theories and   
explanations, but understood more deeply than she could explain, far more   
distant than he had ever felt. "And," he intoned, "in each of them, Fate   
had dealt him a decision."  
  
--- Fin.  
  
--- Author's Lamentations:  
  
Done. I know that I will never be completely satisfied with this one,   
but my tired soul has opted for rest.  
  
I honestly had just envisioned a fight between a "Jurai" Tenchi and a   
"Power Gem" Tenchi, with the two married off to Ayeka and Ryoko,   
respectively. The fight was not up to the epic proportions that I had   
planned, and the angst seemed to overpower the endings.  
  
No, I don't know why the other two Washus didn't know. Drama doesn't   
always go hand in hand with Science. Gawd, that last line was awful.  
  
I sincerely hope that someone who had liked this idea could put it to   
better use than I have.  
  
13 November 1997  
0141H  
  
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